DISCLAIMER: THIS CONTENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION TO PURCHASE TOKENS OR ANY OTHER ASSETS. ANY INVESTMENTS MADE IN THE PROJECTS OR ASSETS MENTIONED BELOW ARE DONE SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE.

Key takeaways

• Reddit Collectible Avatars are digital assets that were designed by independent artists and Reddit creators from popular creative communities. The avatars give users platform benefits and allow Redditors to use their avatars off of the platform however they see fit.
• Reddit’s marketing and UX helped make the launch a success. Reddit refers to Avatars as “collectibles” instead of “NFTs,” and created their own blockchain wallet called “Reddit Vaults.” More than 3 Million Vault wallets have been created so far.
• Each Reddit NFT has its own history, personality, and story, shaped by the people who contribute to the subreddits from which they originate. In other words, Reddit Collectible Avatars aren't just a digital or financial but also a social experience.
• Artists will get paid for every Collectible Avatar that sells on Reddit, less any fees, and are also entitled to receive royalties from secondary sales of their Collectible Avatars on secondary marketplaces that support creator royalties.
• This is Reddit’s second experiment with NFTs, having previously released a limited series of Ethereum-based NFTs called CryptoSnoos.
• The world's largest online community has become a hotbed for NFT (non-fungible token) adoption, as users are clamoring for unique avatars with their own unique stories. It is even better when the price of their avatars goes up! Having the ability to trade them, will likely motivate many to learn more about how to use digital assets in the Polygon blockchain ecosystem.

Intro

Reddit has been a popular platform for people to share thoughts and ideas since 2005. The site and its “subreddits” are collectively home to a massive community of users who congregate around shared interests like the latest memes and cultural trends to more serious topics like politics, health, spirituality, and even personal issues.

Two years ago, Reddit launched a new and improved Avatar Builder, allowing anyone to generate and customize their own personal avatar—a unique way to display their identity on Reddit. Now Reddit has begun the next phase, an inspiring answer to a few simple questions: What if artists on Reddit had a license to make avatars of any style they wanted? And what if Reddit helped these artists to showcase their art to the entire Reddit community and make it easy for them to earn money for their work? Reddit Collectible Avatars are the answer.

In July 2022, Reddit announced its first set of Collectible Avatars called Reddit Collectible Avatars, or Reddit NFTs, a new class of non-fungible token. Though, there seems to be some confusion as to what they are and how they work. So we're here to break it down for you.

What are Reddit Collectible Avatars (Reddit NFTs)?

Reddit Collectible Avatars are collectible digital assets designed by independent artists and Reddit creators from popular creative communities. The avatars give users benefits on the platform like unique profile animations and allow Redditors to use or trade their avatars off of the platform however they see fit.

Powered by the Polygon blockchain and available for purchase at a fixed price in fiat, the Collectible Avatars are Reddit’s first large-scale foray into NFTs.

While many NFT creators attempt to build new communities around the digital assets themselves, Reddit NFTs are an extension of preexisting communities. Each Reddit NFT has its own history, personality, and story—all of which are inspired by the people who contribute to the subreddits from which they originate. In other words, Reddit Collectible Avatars aren't just a digital or financial asset, but a social experience.

Each Reddit Collectible Avatar is designed by a variety of independent artists and created in partnership with Reddit. These creators are paid for each avatar that is sold on the Reddit platform, along with ongoing royalties on secondary market transactions.

According to Techcrunch: Reddit partnered with 30 artists to release around 40,000 NFT avatar designs a few months ago, which could be purchased via the Reddit mobile app at prices ranging from $9.99 to $99.99. (They’re all sold out at the moment). Users who purchased one of the limited-edition pics got licensing rights to use it on and off of Reddit as an avatar, and could mix and match their avatar’s look using a built-in avatar builder tool. These creators are paid for each avatar that is sold on the Reddit platform, along with ongoing royalties on secondary market transactions.

Reddit CPO Pali Bhat revealed that 3 million users have created Vaults—Reddit’s blockchain wallet. 2.5 million were set up to purchase Reddit’s own Avatars—the site’s name for profile picture-style NFTS.

At the time of writing, there are more than 2.93 million Reddit Collectible Avatars that have been claimed or sold across 61 different collections. There are currently 2.84 million holders of those avatars, though only 3,650 (0.13%) of those wallets have transacted.

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???? That means that Reddit, which just formally entered the crypto-collectible space this summer, already has more users than OpenSea, one of the most established NFT platforms, has active accounts. It’s an impressive feat, especially considering the depreciation of cryptocurrency and NFT valuations and trading volumes in 2022.

What do Reddit Collectible Avatars mean for the NFT Adoption?

There are a few takeaways for the NFT community from the success of the Reddit Avatar project.

• First, Reddit’s wallet infrastructure and UI was a key factor in the success of the launch. By creating Vault, their very own blockchain wallet, Reddit allowed users to claim their collectible avatars with just a few clicks. This easy onboarding removed the barriers that come with traditional crypto wallets, making them much more accessible for users. This is a trend that Starbucks plans to follow for its upcoming NFT launch.

• Second, for 99% of the Reddit Collectible Avatars, the price was either free (airdrop) or relatively low ($10). This is the price point required to reach mainstream adoption and one that will likely be the primary model in the future. A billion users are not going to be onboarded with five-figure prices for profile pictures. Instead, it will happen at free or near-free price points.

• Third, Reddit chose an accessible naming convention. Despite the fact that these avatars are indeed NFTs, Reddit does not use that term at all, opting instead for "digital collectible." For better or worse, the term "NFT" has struggled to gain mainstream appeal and appears to be falling out of fashion as brands and creators opt for less technical and more user-friendly language that’s easier for people to understand.

  

???? The world's largest online community has become a hotbed for NFT (non-fungible token) adoption, as users are clamoring for unique avatars with their own unique stories. It is even better when the price of their avatars goes up! Having the ability to trade them, will likely motivate many to learn more about how to use digital assets in the Polygon blockchain ecosystem.

Why Are These Reddit NFTs Soaring in Value?

Community first, NFTs later

In fact, the Reddit community was thriving long before there were digital currencies, blockchain technology! And even without NFT, the Reddit forum would still operate normally.

Given that Reddit and its multitude of subreddits have been building communities for years, unlike the communities built around other NFT collections, Reddit already has millions of members who are passionate about their respective communities and are already invested in helping to create value for the creatives in their midst.

???? Reddit NFTs are just a new way for Reddit to nominate and create value for its community, especially the artistic ones.

The best way to illustrate this is through an example: the popular subreddit /r/raimimemes. This subreddit has over 2 million subscribers and is dedicated to memes related to Raimi (Sam Raimi), the director behind movies like Spider-Man and The Evil Dead trilogy. Because it's such a popular community with so many members, there are literally thousands of physical collectibles shared about in this one subreddit alone—each with its own unique story attached to it.

Take, for example "Raimi's Signature," a 4-page script written by Sam Raimi himself for his 1985 movie Crimewave (which he directed under the alias "Sam Reide"). This item was originally sold on eBay for $1,000 in 2005 but eventually got lost in storage after being auctioned off in 2016.

Empowering Artists on Reddit

According to Reddit’s blog post, Collectible Avatars is an effort to empower artists on Reddit by providing them with an easy way to showcase their work and profit from it, since the series includes contributions from artists who frequently post on popular subreddits.

“Artists will get paid for every Collectible Avatar that sells on Reddit, less any fees, and are also entitled to receive royalties from secondary sales of their Collectible Avatars on open marketplaces.”

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Reddit Collectible Avatars are voluntarily created by independent artists on Reddit. The artist posts an article about their collection, where the ideas come from and what the NFTs mean. Of course, each person has different experiences so the meaning of each avatars set is not the same for everyone. If a user likes any artist or has sympathy for any experience they'll buy an avatar that speaks to them from the collection.

• For example, with Protectors of the Forest, author Laura D came up with idea of combining her love for nature and cute characters. You can read more about this artist's story here.

  

While many other company’s NFT initiatives have been met with accusations of being “cash grabs,” Reddit’s Collectible Avatars is anything but. In a statement on The Verge, Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s spokesperson, said that “Reddit’s cut is 5%, which goes to minting, blockchain fees, as well as to supporting the creator program. The rest goes to the artists.”

This is not Reddit’s first attempt with NFTs.

Reddit previously released a limited series of Ethereum-based CryptoSnoos NFTs, which did use NFT terminology in their marketing. Just four total NFTs were released in that project in June 2021, with one selling for 175 ETH at auction—over $398,000 worth at the time. That same NFT was later resold for just 42 ETH in February, worth around $117,000 by then.

Reddit has been exploring the blockchain space in other ways for years. It first rolled out a tokenized “Community Points” initiative in late 2019, and has since experimented with various scaling platforms that could bring tokenized rewards to a much larger audience.

CrypSnoos NFTs: https://nft.reddit.com/

Final thoughts

Reddit has a sizable audience of nearly 330 Million Monthly Active Users, meaning the collectible avatars will appeal to more people than the average NFT collection. Reddit has clear advantages of pre-existing and very active subreddit communities, while most crypto-native NFT collections attempt to build a community from scratch.

Notably, Reddit Collectible Avatars have been carefully marketed without using any technical crypto jargon. Reddit has substituted “crypto/blockchain wallet” with “Reddit Vault,” and avoided the term NFT (a term/concept which has sparked backlash and contentious debate among art and gaming communities) for one much simpler and easy to understand: “Digital Collectible”.

Some detractors argue that these marketing decisions led fewer crypto-native investors to participate because they were unprepared. But by appealing to those who are new or more wary about blockchain tech, Reddit has definitely helped drive new adoption of NFTs, or should we say, digital collectibles.